Ed board election no civics lesson

Jessica Ablamsky

Great Neck Board of Education Trustees Lawrence Gross and Susan Healy will be unopposed when voters cast their ballots May 17 at Great Neck North High School and Great Neck South High School from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Gross is a 30-year veteran of the Board of Education and the district’s longest seated board member.

“I enjoy the board,” he said. “I feel that it’s a particularly difficult time for education in New York state, and I feel I have something to add.”

He said maintaining the high quality programming Great Neck is known for will be increasingly difficult in the future, especially in the face of a potential property tax cap.

“Great Neck is very successful,” Gross said. “It’s very successful for all kids, not just some. To maintain that is going to take a lot of activity and a lot of planning.”

Gross said that among the board’s responsibilities are recruiting and maintaining staff.

“I think one of the things about Great Neck is it’s a very pleasant place to work because of the emphasis on education,” he said. “People want to come [work] here, and we have to make sure to maintain that.”

With a background in corporate America, Gross said he enjoys being part of a board, which he said has more responsibility than a private board of directors for a public company.

“The difficulty in being a school board member is it’s a very time consuming board if you want to do it right,” Gross said. “It’s sometimes difficult to get people interested.”

Susan Healy was appointed a little over five years ago to fill the seat left vacant by Nassau County Legislator Judi Bosworth (D-Great Neck).

“I think of it as a way of giving back to the community,” she said. “Children are a passion of mine. What a great thing to be part of a team that advocates on behalf of that group on a daily basis.”

Healy said the question at meeting is always, “How is it going to play out for children in the classroom?”

“Even though we are all individuals and we bring different mindsets to the table, as a group it is always, what will serve children first, and what will serve the community,” she said.

If re-elected, Healy will continue to focus on addressing the needs of an increasingly diverse student population and integrating lifelong wellness practices into the classroom.

“The reality is that every child deserves each year to be the best it can be for that individual child,” she said. “If there is one thing I want to continue to focus on, it is to make that happen for those kids. I’m so thankful to be living in a community that values public education.”

Voters will also have the chance on May 17 to vote on the Great Neck public school’s proposed $193 million budget represents a 1.99 percent increase in spending and the tax levy.

A failing vote would give the school board a choice between holding a second vote or adopting a contingency budget based on a formula from the state Education Department.

Also on the ballot is the Great Neck Library’s proposed $8.41 million budget for 2012, a 2.4 percent increase that will cost the owner of a home valued at $1 million about $10 dollars.

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